Corporate Media Control

The problem with complaining about how corporate control of the media tilts media coverage to things that people want to see is this: if the media were covering that which the public should be seeing instead of that which the public is interested in seeing, the public would still not see what it should be. Unless we are seriously going to consider torturing all those who do not watch the evening news, or (at risk of repeating myself) eliminating all channels besides C-Span, people will continue to watch what they enjoy. In other words, making news coverage less interesting to the public will only have the effect of ensuring that less of the public will view the news. Supply of more good news sources will not create more demand for good news. This point is documented effectively by The Onion in an article headlined "C-SPAN Ratings Up Following Addition Of 'The House Of Representatives Dancers'". Short of that it seems unlikely to see such a rise in the short term, the obvious benefit in obtaining C-Span 3 notwithstanding. For further evidence that people watch things they like see the latest Nielsen ratings which do not contain a single PBS program!